The actress' directorial debut - which tells the tale of a romance between a Serbian soldier and Bosnian Muslim woman set in the Yugoslav wars - will compete in the Best Foreign Language Category and Angelina admitted she was shocked when she heard the news on her way to the dentist with her kids.

She told The Hollywood Reporter: "I was on my way and turned on my phone, and saw the subject line on an email. I thought, this can't be. I never expected this.

"Just to be able to make a film you care about and then get a distributor makes you happy."

Angelina shot the movie twice, once in English and again in the native languages of her cast, Bosnian, Serbran and Croatian, and the brunette beauty recently revealed she had discussed every aspect of the scripts with her actors.

She said: "We all spoke about every speech and every scene, and made sure it was right and true. So everybody helped to educate me and we all adjusted The Script together."

"I read a lot of books about the war. I talked to a lot of people, I watched, I listened. I just wanted to tell the real story. I wanted to be respectful of people. [If I did not know something,] I asked."

The 69th annual Golden Globe will be held on January 15 in Los Angeles and hosted by British funnyman Ricky Gervais.